New Danfoss VLT® Decentral Drive E cient, reliable and powerful

Simple servodrive can
be tailored to demand
Simple servo:
Rockwell’s Kinetix 3
Rockwell Automation has announced a
component servodrive that, it claims, avoids
the complexity of traditional servos. The
Allen-Bradley Kinetix 3, available in ratings
from 50W–1.5kW and capable of delivering
up to 12.55Nm of instantaneous torque,
allows axes to be tailored to a machine’s
actual power requirements, thus minimising
system size and costs.
“Manufacturers are challenged by
tougher economic conditions. There is less
capital available for new equipment
purchases and users expect solutions that
A pioneering technique for detecting
fingerprints on bullet casings has been
adapted to measure corrosion on
machine parts by the scientist who
developed the technique, Dr John Bond
of Leicester University.
Dr Bond’s technique for identifying
fingerprints on brass bullet-casings, even
after they have been wiped clean, is
based on the minuscule amounts of
corrosion which can be caused by sweat.
Now, working with scientists in the
University’s Department of Chemistry, Dr
Bond has used the same technique to
produce a simple, handheld device which
can measure corrosion on machine parts.
“This is a new, quick, cheap and easy
way of measuring the extent of corrosion
on copper and copper-based alloys, such
as brass,” explains Dr Bond, who is an
honorary research fellow in the
University’s Forensic Research Centre.
“It works by exploiting the discovery
we made during the fingerprint research
– that the corrosion on brass forms
are easier to use and also yield greater
uptime and return on investment,” says
Rockwell product manager, Oliver Haya.
“When combining the new Kinetix 3 servo
drive with Allen-Bradley MicroLogix
controllers, machine-builders can deliver a
cost-effective motion control solution for
low-axis count applications, that is simple to
use and maintain.”
The drive is configured using the free
Allen-Bradley UltraWare software.
Configuration can be simplified further
using the automatic motor recognition
facilities in some Allen-Bradley rotary and
linear servomotors. Additional features
include online vibration suppression,
advanced auto-tuning, and rapid settling
times. The drive can index up to 64 points
via Modbus or through its digital inputs.
Rockwell’s Connected Component
Building Blocks technology can be used to
provide CAD drawings, electrical layouts,
bills of materials, sample code and operator
interface screens for the drive. Indexing
operations for three axes can be performed
over the Modbus network using Rockwell’s
MicroLogix 1400 controller, PanelView
component operator interfaces, and TL-
Series motors.
www.rockwellautomation.co.uk
Fingerprinting breakthrough
spawns corrosion detector
something called a Schottky barrier. We
use this to see how much the metal has
corroded. Such measurements can be
made already, but this is quick, cheap and
easy, and can be performed in the field as
it works off a 9V battery.
“Measuring the corrosion of metals
such as brass is important to ensure that
machinery does not operate outside its
safe limits,” Bond points out. “This could
be anything from checking that a water
pipe will not burst open, to ensuring that
the metal on an airplane is not corroded.
“Also, rather than simply saying that
the brass is corroding (as a technique
such as weighing the brass would), this
technique enables the type of corrosion
to be determined – for example, copper
oxide or zinc oxide corrosion.” This gives
clues about how severe the corrosion is.
The system works by touching the
metal with a probe. “It's as easy as taking
your temperature with a thermometer,”
says Bond, who is now looking for a
company to market the device.
A new name in
inverters
Hyundai
N-series from
Softstart UK
REDEFINING THE
PERFORMANCE TO
COST RATIO
Hyundai N-series inverters:
• Powers from 0.4kW to 1.8MW
• Voltages from 200V to 11kV
• Dedicated fan and pump
models as well as precision
motion models
• Sensorless vector operation
• High starting torques
• Efficient, low noise
• Advanced auto-tuning
• Simple operation
Get your FREE brochure:
Call 01493 660510 or email
sales@softstartUK.com
Softstart UK Ltd
Unit 14 Brinell Way
Great Yarmouth
Norfolk NR31 0LU
Tel: 01493 660510
Email: sales@softstartuk.com
Web: www.softstartuk.com